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Inequality
Read the Spring 2025 issue
Recent Articles
Decriminalizing ‘Colonial’ Laws in the Anglophone Caribbean – ‘Buggery’
The moment I stepped foot back on the island, I was no longer the 14-year-old boy who once proudly wore his school uniform to Wolmer’s Boys High School—the oldest school in the Caribbean—and to Maranatha Gospel Hall, my local church. I had become something else entirely in the eyes of the state: a criminal. An illegal presence.
Remembering Pope Francis
The world has lost one of the most charismatic pontiffs of the last century with the passing of Pope Francis, the first Latin American prelate of the church’s 1.3 billion Catholics. Francis was a reformer who made himself available to the faithful, and traveled to 66 countries, including eleven in Latin America.
A Review of The Amazon in Times of War
Marcos Colón’s book The Amazon in Times of War offers a compelling collection of essays exposing the physical, economic and institutional violence that devastates the Amazon. He argues that much of this destruction stems from deliberate state policies enacted under former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2023). Colón not only documents the struggles of Indigenous and other traditional communities but also critiques the role of profit-driven industries such as logging, mining and cattle ranching in the ongoing exploitation of the Amazon and its peoples.
From Our Current Issue
Weaving Memory through Fashion: The Magical Genesis of Equihua
Growing up in California, I spent so much time gazing at the sky, often losing myself in its vastness.
Unsubmissive Images
Hemetério José dos Santos (1858-1939), a Black grammarian and teacher at Rio de Janeiro's most important schools suffered racist attacks in the press because of the way he dressed.
Transnational Fashion on the Frontier: Migration and Modernities in the Brazilian Amazon
When you think of fashion, you might not think of politics.
Spotlight
Perspectives in Times of Change
Check out these reflections on social, economic, cultural and political transformations in Latin America, the Caribbean and Latinx communities in the United States.
The Martyrs of Louisiana
On the 18th of June 1842, in a doctor’s office on Esplanade Avenue in New Orleans, a French poet and playwright named Auguste Lussan died of a surgical operation meant to relieve yellow fever. The attending physician was Jean François Beugnot, a prominent doctor who had immigrated from France, and who would soon present and publish his approach to treatment of yellow fever in a regional medical journal, research which would later be recognized by Napoleon III with the award of the Legion of Honour.
Affirmative Action and Discrimination: A Look at Brazil
We believe that education is a means to overcome inequalities and improve the quality of life. However, if you are Black and poor in Brazil, even if you manage to access a good education, you must still be cautious.
Dear reader, I am Winnie Santos, a Black woman from Brazil, and I want to discuss something not particularly pleasant but very important to share, as we can think together about ways to overcome this challenge.
Affirmative action policies in my country have enabled a significant number of Black people to access universities, including the most prestigious ones.
Danza Azteca Guadalupana: Beyond Borders
Natalie Navarro, 29, the lead drummer, anchors the circle with precision and grace. Her hands strike the drum rhythmically, summoning the energies of heaven and earth. Her sister Samantha, 26, along with her husband, Eduardo Galarza, 29, join in dancing with dynamic movements embodying the vibrancy of life. Eduardo serves as both lead dancer and instructor. He reflects, “This dance is for the water, fire, wind, spirit, and Mother Earth. Through our steps, we call upon a higher power—with flowers, through songs, and in the sound of the drums’s heartbeat. Flowers symbolize our humanity and the beauty of creation. Yet, we often forget that the earth is our home, and we’re causing its destruction.”
StudEnt Views
Equity in action: Experiencing EAAMO ‘24 in Mexico
As I walked into the sweeping courtyard of the Autonomous University of San Luis Potosí (UASLP) in Mexico, flanked by its grand stone pillars, I knew that EAAMO’24 was going to be unlike any other academic conference I had ever attended.
Spiritual Vessels of a Sacred Treasure: Ritual Specialists of el Niño Fidencio
In the Río Bravo borderlands, there is a site of a thousand wonders.
Decolonizing Global Citizenship: Peripheral Perspectives
I write these words as someone who teaches, researches and resists in the global periphery.
Book ReviewS
A Review of Representing the Barrios: Culture, Politics, and Urban Policy in Twentieth Century Caracas
Rebecca Jarman, in her book, Representing the Barrios: Culture, Politics, and Urban Policy in Twentieth Century Caracas, explores the vibrancy and complexity of Caracas’s barrios. In Caracas, the term barrio refers to self-produced neighborhoods––usually defined as informal settlements––where communities self-organize the construction of their territory with no prior planning but through an incremental yet effective system of organization.
A Review of From South Central to Southside: Gang Transnationalism, Masculinity and Disorganized Violence in Belize City
In 2013, I took a repurposed U.S. school bus from the south of Mexico, my adopted home country, to Belize City. Once across the border, we ended up making a lengthy stop when passengers with pre-purchased tickets found themselves unable to board the crammed vehicle and began to protest the perceived injustice. In the scorching heat, the initial exasperation among locals both on and off the bus quickly turned into visceral anger. The episode would stay with me as I wandered around Belize City, shocked by the generalized poverty.
A Review of Hopped Up, How Travel, Trade, and Taste Made Beer a Global Commodity
About ten years ago, when I arrived at the Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma Brewery in the mountain town of Orizaba, Veracruz, in Mexico, I was excited that the administrator I’d spoken with earlier had arranged a private tour for me. Founded in 1896, the Moctezuma Brewery was saved from bankruptcy when it was bought out by Mexico’s behemoth Cuauhtémoc Brewery in 1985. It is best known globally for its Dos Equis amber lager and for Sol, the light, golden, pilsner-style beer now sold in over 70 countries around the world.
DRCLAS Podcast: Faculty Voices
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